The invention pertains to a towed array sonar system with a towed array, a deployment device for respectively deploying and retrieving the towed array into and from a body of water, a signal processing device for processing the signals of the towed array and at least one control console for controlling the towed array sonar system. The present invention additionally pertains to a method for carrying out a sonar mission with such a towed array sonar system.
Conventional towed array sonar systems have a towed array that consists, in particular, of a towing cable, as well as an acoustically active section with hydrophones or electro-acoustic transducers and, if applicable, an end section for stabilizing the position and alignment of the towed array in the water. On surface ships, such towed arrays are installed at the stern of the ship and deployed into the surrounding body of water, as well as subsequently retrieved, by means of a winch that is mounted at the stern for this purpose
US 2010/0064955 A1 discloses a deployment system with such a winch that serves for deploying a towed array and a submersible floating body into a body of water and for retrieving the towed array and the submersible floating body from the body of water. In addition to the deployment into the body of water and the retrieval from the body of water, the deployment system is also designed for automatically connecting the submersible floating body to the towing cable of the towed array during the deployment and for once again separating the submersible floating body during the retrieval. In this case, the submersible floating body corresponds to a so-called sonar fish finder that actively emits sound waves. The emitted sound waves are then recorded with the acoustically active section of the towed array, e.g., after they were reflected on the bottom of the body of water, and sonar data is determined from the recorded sound waves aboard the ship.
DE 10 2009 019 556 A1 discloses another deployment system that allows the land-based deployment of an underwater vehicle.
A signal processing device that is connected to the towed array and processes the obtained sonar data in order to provide a situation report on other watercraft is arranged aboard a ship with a deployment system for deploying towed arrays. Consequently, at least one control console for operating and controlling the towed array sonar system, as well as for mapping the determined position, is arranged aboard the ship. However, the control of the towed array sonar system and the mapping of the position may, if applicable, also be realized on different consoles.
The winches for deploying such towed arrays require a relatively large space that usually needs to be provided at the stern of the ship.
However, since towed array sonars of this type are not used permanently, but usually only in special threat situations or for training purposes, the space at the stern, in which the winch is installed, frequently is unnecessarily blocked. This significantly increases the overall costs for the provision of towed array sonar systems and consequently reduces the cost-efficiency of towed array sonar systems.
In light of the above-described circumstances, the invention therefore is based on the objective of realizing towed array sonar systems more efficiently.